Community Programmes

2001 - Present

Our Community based work is run out of the Underground Youth Centre. Situated between Caledonian Road, and Highbury and Islington stations, it is a safe space where our young people can supplement the quality of their home life. For those who are harder to reach and live their lives on the streets, our outreach street team that leaves the Underground three nights per week, let’s them know that Prospex is there for them.

The Problem

Many of the children who use our centre have neither the life skills needed to thrive as adults, nor the adequate space within which to learn them. That's why they and their parents come come to Prospex, to develop as individuals. For others, Prospex is a place from which they can escape boredom. Whilst seemingly a small problem, we believe in ensuring that young people have activities to enjoy and a safe place in which to enjoy them.

Our Approach

The Underground is open for young people aged 8 to 21. During term time, we are available everyday of the week to support a variety of local children; from providing a space to play snooker and table tennis, to helping young people engage with their mental health.

Once a week, we offer an empowerment session for girls, and this year we will be extending this to a boys session also. Prospex is keen to ensure that the women leaving our service are confident and aware of the importance of independence.

We also understand the importance of supplementing a quality of life that isn’t available at home for some of our attending young people. So we invest heavily in electronics materials in our centre. Further to this, every Christmas, our staff provide Christmas hampers to the families that ask for that extra bit of help in making it a memorable time of the year.

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Our work in the community is underpinned by the belief that we are always on call and our doors are always open; to parents, young people and their teachers.

2018 Outcomes

1926

Meals served to young people

61

Girls Empowerment

Workshops

16

given one-to-one support

Community Projects

These are just a few of the projects we've got running at any given time. For a comprehensive list, contact info@prospex.org.

Street Teams

Many young people in Islington live their lives on the streets – refusing to attend school and maintaining an irregular home life. Prospex’s street work targets young people who have disengaged from their family, local authorities and wider society.

Our experienced Street Team provide young people with a point of contact to the support they need and a way to access positive activities and the information that could allow them to move forward from the traumas that have resulted in them being on the London’s streets.

By actively focusing on parts of the Islington where anti-social behaviour is regularly reported, not only are we supporting our members, we are aiding in creating a safer community for all.

One to One Support

Many of the young people we work with, have acute needs that are difficult to support in a group environment. We only take young people who self-refer for this support as they are usually more receptive to the interventions we suggest. Lasting six months to a year, One-2-One Support is where we see young people make real steps forward in their development.

The length of the intervention enables us to tailor our support to the needs of each young person, working through areas of individual development such as; anger management, antagonist relationships with authority, family relationships, sexual exploitation, low self-esteem, bullying and school exclusion.

Gender Workshops

Our young men and women often live with issues that relate to their gender. We provide gender specific groups that encourage behaviours which tackle toxic masculinity, empower women through conversations on body confidence. In these groups, we also tackle the at-times uncomfortable topic of sex education.

The boys who attend our workshops are often vulnerable, in gangs, dealing with family breakdown and unsafe and vulnerable on the streets. The workshop enables them to discuss their emotions in an encouraging environment of peers.

The girls workshop focuses on leadership and practical life skills, along with motivational advice to empower them to make better-informed life decisions.

Open Access Session

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, a significant proportion of youth centres were shut down. This limited the amount of safe, indoor spaces that young people could congregate in. Our open access sessions allow the young people to come, and just “be”.

Open access youth hub sessions are split over three age groups – ranging from 8-21. We offer materials, tools and equipment to take part in artistic pursuits, sports, [computer and board] games, gardening, computers and projects.

Each session also includes freshly cooked food and a cookery class. With the increase of food poverty, especially during the holidays, the support that this service provides to families as well as the young people cannot be overstated.